Chapter 650 – Jianghu

Spear King Yue Bi-gang and Kaifeng Qing Family Head.

Peerless masters who had grown old and nearly forgotten, who could be called distinguished veterans of Central Plains jianghu.

Even so, Jeong Yeon-shin didn’t feel their caliber was high. Though their explosive forces had accumulated in his right arm to the point of seeming to crush even his grip, that was all.

[Only their spear techniques and hand movements were strong.]

Jeong Yeon-shin acknowledged that the two old men deserved to act as strongmen, but he couldn’t empathize with their lives.

That’s why he won.

[You spoke of the people as weak, but do you still prefer survival of the fittest?]

“……”

The two old men stood upright while flowing dark red blood like streams from their shoulders. They were those who hadn’t retreated because the Ming Cult Leader’s voice had rung from Wild Goose Fall Peak.

Internal energy breathing flowing as pale white breath. Not only their lives but even their consciousness remained intact. Despite suddenly losing both arms.

Terrifying innate energy.

But in Jeong Yeon-shin’s view, the two old men were like Dark Path ruffians. Humans below common people who couldn’t even become ordinary people. Masters who held the world’s divine techniques and secrets like back-alley daggers.

Current Central Plains jianghu would be full of such characters. Suddenly Jeong Yeon-shin stuck the sword he was holding into the ground.

Thud!

A sword with the character “Desolate” carved at the end of its handle.

It was Desolate Sword.

The sword’s owner, Dan Jeong-jeong who had been standing alone on a stone pillar behind, startled. Since it was none other than Jeong Yeon-shin who had borrowed it, naturally she didn’t know when or how it had been taken.

Only then did Spear King Yue Bi-gang’s eyebrows twitch slightly. A gaze taking in the silver-gray blade stuck at Jeong Yeon-shin’s waist. That’s right. Enter The Divine Sword had never been drawn once.

He couldn’t help but feel shame greater than any death.

Jeong Yeon-shin spoke slowly.

[You are merely whistling arrows. You cannot be more than the beginning that announces the Divine Sword Group’s blade drawing.]

“It wasn’t… a retreat in defeat from the north.”

Kaifeng Qing Family Head’s soliloquy was peaceful.

He showed no sign of making a disgraceful display. Separate from his excessive ambition as a strongman, his mental cultivation at least befitted a peerless master. But Jeong Yeon-shin’s reply continued indifferently as if shattering the old man’s clear mirror-like mind.

[The northern expedition was accomplished.]

“……!”

The old man who had lost everything facing natural disaster, Kaifeng Qing Family Head, laughed heartily with a throat where blood bubbled up like phlegm.

His palanquin bearers had descended the mountain when their master’s will resonated. Like retainers of a merchant family, they had calculated the possibility of their master’s defeat, but Jeong Yeon-shin had deliberately let them go.

Because if the retainers of Kaifeng’s First Family spoke, all under heaven would believe the news of the Divine Sword Group’s southward movement.

[Then they’ll gather from wherever.]

The families of the main fortress.

It was then. Suddenly Kaifeng Qing Family Head stopped laughing and said.

“Then… that guy, the Yong family guy must be alive too. It wasn’t that he died and passed Enter The Divine Sword to you…”

Suddenly Jeong Yeon-shin cut off his words.

[Don’t speak meaningless words. All grudges of successive Divine Sword Group Leaders have been passed to me.]

Meaning that whatever your story, it was right to conclude it in my generation. The moment Kaifeng Qing Family Head swayed in place, a faint smile formed on his lips.

“That arrogance… truly befitting a Divine Sword Group Leader.”

This time it was Jeong Yeon-shin’s turn to ask him.

[Are you also one of the Seven New Enemies of Defeated Desolation?]

When the Ming imperial house became meaningless, seven strongmen who raised the banners of Officials and Martial Arts Inviolable and survival of the fittest under heaven.

Yue Bi-gang was said to have carved a path to Desolate Fortress’s interior. There would be six more who had attacked the main castle like that.

“No. When they destroyed Desolate Fortress, my attention was entirely focused only on the Ming Cult Leader’s movements. Though Desolate Fortress’s Heavenly Martial Arsenal is certainly treasure anyone would covet… I knew exactly what formation was installed in that secret archive. Yes, it’s activated by scribes inside the archive…”

Kaifeng Qing Family Head continued his answer with a halting voice.

“It’s a formation that reproduces the Three Samadhi Fire of ancient Annihilating Seat Divine Heaven Fire and burns the archive’s interior. Isn’t it truly regrettable regardless of gains and losses? Considering that the martial arts books of the Heavenly Martial Arsenal are part of jianghu history…”

[……]

“Those who must be wandering Desolate Fortress like their own home by now are the same. If they had insight, they would have hoped for the scribes to starve to death while only setting up siege networks. Or perhaps the Heavenly Martial Arsenal’s scribes have already activated the formation.”

Kaifeng Qing Family Head said this and showed a hearty laugh.

“I thought obtaining the Heavenly Demon’s legacy was better than that. Well, now I see it was a worse move under heaven than death.”

Before long, white steam was rising hissing from both his arms, having applied Three Samadhi Fire and acupoint pressing simultaneously to the cut surfaces to stop bleeding. Whether the pain was tremendous, cold sweat had formed on his wrinkled face.

In the end, it was a story that returned to the Heavenly Demon’s tomb.

Jeong Yeon-shin spoke with an expressionless face as if wearing Little Heavenly Demon Invincible’s silver mask.

[You need to be kept alive to the end. Like the others.]

“By others you mean…?”

It was then.

Rumble!

Another great earthquake occurred, but this time Qinling Mountain Range seemed to flinch entirely. A resonance that violently shook the vision of those on mountain paths.

“Wh, what…?!”

Naturally Dan Jeong-jeong’s stone pillar suddenly shattered, and waves of dirt piles that surged like tsunamis from various spots of the vast mountain slopes began rushing to the ground. It was truly a terrifying momentum.

Boom! Crash crash crash crash crash—!

Those vibrations surged violently beneath everyone’s feet. The ground containing withered bushes cracked in all directions, and the already collapsed rocky mountain rolled boulders in all directions. The commotion was literally close to the calamity of heaven collapsing and earth splitting.

This was happening throughout all areas within energy perception’s reach. There had been nothing like this throughout Jeong Yeon-shin’s jianghu experience.

Something had been activated.

A powerful madman’s laughter filling the night sky was simultaneous.

[The current Heavenly Demon announces to the first demon of Central Plains’ ancient and modern times.]

As if already unified with Qinling Mountain Range, Little Heavenly Demon Invincible Yelu Zhen’s laughter-tinged voice rose beyond the star clusters. Ascension. It was literally ascension.

[Come down.]

A true word woven from transcendentally thick demonic energy and upper energy center spirituality. In terms of techniques, it was like putting internal energy into explosive force movements.

That is, it was the completion of a formation.

The function was predetermined. As she had repeatedly said, to completely create the first Heavenly Demon’s soul garment.

[Stop—!]

Suddenly a resonant voice completely shattered all the hazy clouds. An overwhelmingly tyrannical energy unlike Taoist studies. It was precisely Kongtong Sect’s Ascending Heaven Demon-Subduing Divine Energy.

[…I must stop this.]

Jeong Yeon-shin turned his back on the armless Kaifeng Qing Family Head and Yue Bi-gang. From that small footstep, invisible light skills surged up and naturally struck both old men’s lower and middle energy centers.

Thud!

“Ugh…!”

“Gasp!”

What seemed insignificant Radiant Wing Eight Steps had sealed peerless masters’ energy centers. To Dan Jeong-jeong watching that scene with shocked eyes, Jeong Yeon-shin’s words continued.

[Kongtong’s Sect Leader Taoist seems about to deploy killing techniques against the Ming Cult Leader, and might really be able to kill her. Even Divine Sword Prisoner is in a situation of chasing the Ming Cult Leader.]

“…Then isn’t it right to leave her alone?”

Dan Jeong-jeong’s question scattered emptily toward where Jeong Yeon-shin had disappeared. Lightness skill unidentifiable even by the eye technique of Moon Spirit Chaos Knot she had learned from Desolate Fortress Lord.

Crash—!

A roar spread from within the distant constellation.

The situation was clear. Jeong Yeon-shin had blocked Acquired Heaven Radiant Saint’s ultimate technique. Soon semi-transparent orthodox true energy explosive force fragments poured down like hail.

Those light skill fallen leaves burst with rumbling sounds as soon as they touched the collapsed rocky mountain, mixing into gales and dust. Each one was like a thunderbolt made of light clusters.

Slowly but surely, conversation between transcendent beings resonated in the sky above the collapsing Qinling Mountain Range.

[Taoist, preserve your strength.]

[The Divine Sword Group Leader protects the Ming Cult Leader…? An interesting situation indeed.]

[I have killed and lost too many people. If Gates and famine can be resolved, it would be worth talking even with demons.]

[You see far. But this is what the Ming Cult Leader is doing. It might rather hasten the world’s end.]

Acquired Heaven Radiant Saint’s energy waves were only strong as ten-thousand-year cold iron even in rapid currents. Each syllable of the aged voice was enough to make Dan Jeong-jeong’s knees shake involuntarily.

Jeong Yeon-shin quickly gave up.

[Jeok Family, block Taoist Sect Leader. Stop looking for Little Heavenly Demon Invincible.]

[Embarrassed to call my childhood name? Are you curious about my name? Shall I tell you?]

[Protect yourself. You’re the Divine Sword Group’s now.]

[Yes, and you’re mine.]

Dan Jeong-jeong tried to understand the incomprehensible situation from the devastated ground.

“So Divine Sword Prisoner Seventh Apostle faces Acquired Heaven Radiant Saint by the Group Leader’s order, the Group Leader tries to protect the Ming Cult Leader even while clashing with Nine Sects Sect Leader, and the Ming Cult Leader is on the verge of manifesting the first Heavenly Demon’s primordial soul in Qinling Mountain Range, like how the previous previous previous Divine Sword Group Leader protected the main fortress during the Desolate Great War…?”

The two old men silently listened to her soliloquy.

Yue Bi-gang still couldn’t accept reality with vacant eyes, Kaifeng Qing Family Head who intuited that current events would change Central Plains’ landscape for better or worse.

At the same time.

“……”

The earthquake that had been shaking the vast mountain range stopped quietly like a lie.

[I’ve never concentrated on one thing this much… Since I couldn’t even savor junior brother Yeon-shin’s movements, it’s somewhat regrettable.]

It rang from underground.

It was Little Heavenly Demon Invincible, but not her usual voice modified by power. It was her inherently smooth voice.

[Even narrowing all my energy perception only to formation took this much time. It’s the same now. Creating the dead sect founding patriarch’s Primordial Soul… is indeed not easy. No matter how great arrangements were left in the tomb.]

The most absolute being when long prepared.

The pinnacle of heretical path martial arts called side gate left path.

Thud!

Soon Jeong Yeon-shin landed at his original position. It was where invisible demonic energy began drawing great currents.

He silently put his hands behind his back.

Purple sleeves overlapping behind his back fluttered violently in the storm.

[Now the sacrifices remain. The corpses of grave robber rabble who killed and died among themselves… This is why I created this opera stage.]

Little Heavenly Demon Invincible Yelu Zhen sat cross-legged in Qinling Mountain Range’s deep abyss and laughed. She had already established herself in the Heavenly Demon’s tomb through Form-shifting Void.

[I summon the first Heavenly Demon’s power and wisdom perfectly. Using corpses’ resentment and innate energy as dharma treasures.]

Snap!

The sound of snapping fingers spread like an echo. Straight to where Jeong Yeon-shin stood.

Heavenly Demon Divine Formula

Yelu Zhen’s Chapter

Zhuangzi’s Ravings

It was wide-area Form-shifting Void.

A technique that gathered and moved all warriors’ bodies with energy accumulation above a certain level throughout Qinling Mountain Range. The formation’s central axis was below Mount Hua’s Wild Goose Fall Peak.

That is, the ground Jeong Yeon-shin stood on.

Whoosh!

In an instant, Jeong Yeon-shin’s body rose up as if by itself. The bloody smell hit simultaneously.

A mountain was truly being created.

Various jianghu people’s bodies continuously overlapped beneath his feet. Powerlessly fallen blades began making hollow metallic sounds while tangled with each other, and Qinling Mountain Range’s earth spewed out countless bodies like that.

It was a bizarre sight.

Before long, Jeong Yeon-shin was silently lowering his eyelids atop a mountain of jianghu people.

It was then that bewilderment tinged Little Heavenly Demon Invincible’s will.

[Corpses…?]

Among the thousands forming the mountain, few weren’t breathing.

A scene of those with shallow external arts achievements screaming below. Going upward, most were breathing colorfully with only one red dot on their necks. They were those who couldn’t move because their demon blood points had been pressed.

The proportion of corpses wasn’t large.

Only about a hundred or so who had been crushed into bloody pulp as if hit by some giant’s fist. Even that could be called gentle handling compared to Qinling Mountain Range’s size.

[You… you…?]

[Under starlight.]

Jeong Yeon-shin’s story continued bluntly.

[This is what happens when I run.]

The world’s fastest runner had been racing under the sword’s constellation for long. It would be more than enough to pacify not just Qinling Mountain Range but the Central Plains.

Even if the first Heavenly Demon’s soul garment descended, the prey given to him wouldn’t be much.

“……”

Silence descended on the mountain slopes.

Now all of Jeong Yeon-shin’s strikes were directed toward the great game. Was it because he had been deeply impressed by Southern Emperor? He was only comfortable when gripping the game’s momentum like this.

But beneath the mountain of bodies Jeong Yeon-shin stood on, Yue Bi-gang’s thoughts, who had been standing like a corpse for a while, seemed different.

The old man opened his mouth.

“You are too strong. With acupoint pressing of such intensity, countless obstacles will follow in their future use of internal energy.”

[……?]

“Those filling jianghu are walls that block invasions from beyond the Great Wall by themselves. What do you intend by emptying the Central Plains so mercilessly? Setting aside Ming Cult founding patriarch’s soul garment, can you do this knowing what happened to the empty Desolate Fortress?”

[You’re mistaken. Even if all martial people lost their martial arts, the world wouldn’t be vacant.]

“What nonsense…?”

Yue Bi-gang asked back with an even more aged voice.

Jeong Yeon-shin looked down intently from the mountain of martial people. Dim starlight was shimmering on Enter The Divine Sword’s scabbard.

He slowly placed his hand on the sword handle.

[Now I am jianghu.]

When the calmly uttered words rolled down below the slope of blades.

Step.

The first Heavenly Demon walked through the middle of withered stone piles. Fluttering jet-black hair like dragon robes blacker than the night sky.

It was Baek Mi-ryeo’s appearance.